The campaign, launched after the passage of Proposition 30 in November, has attracted 24 firms to look at leaving the Golden State.

Arizona State University and the University of Arizona are actively partnering with the business community in Greater Phoenix to help bring jobs to the Grand Canyon State.

Arizona State University President Dr. Michael Crow has a powerful message for those chief executives visiting from California.

“For us at the university, in terms of CEOs coming from California, it’s really -- you tell us what you need and we will be adaptable,” he said.

Students at ASU are learning to be pilots by using a flight simulator. The training is practical and job oriented -- and it’s the only aviation program in the entire Pac 12 conference.

“We get a lot of positive feedback from industry that our students are head and shoulders above the other students that are out there when they go into the industry,” said Dr. Mary Niemczyk, the aviation program chair at ASU.

The University of Arizona has opened a downtown Phoenix campus for its medical school, where President Dr. Ann Hart also will meet those California CEOs.

Hart will tell them, “This is a place where higher education and the business community come together to be a great place to do business.”

The dome of the Arizona State Capitol is made of copper -- one of the core elements of the state’s economy -- along with cotton, cattle, citrus and climate.

But there’s a new element this state is using in the battle with California for jobs: Competitiveness.

“We’ve watched the continued decline in California’s competitive policy,” said Barry Broome, president of the Greater Phoenix Economic Council.

Just one day after Prop 30 passed in California, Broome began recruiting California CEOs, enticing them to move to Arizona, touting the state’s lower taxes and a much friendlier business climate.

The Greater Phoenix Economic Council is now flying in 24 CEOs, firms that the council said have already committed to leaving California.

“I think the biggest thing they’re frustrated about is that they don’t matter in California," Broome told KCRA 3. "None of their concerns are the concerns of the governor.”

Critics say California’s political leaders are openly hostile to business.

Joe Vranich, a business relocation expert, has counted 254 companies that already have left California, with no love from lawmakers.

“They’re so far anti-business, and they’re so clueless about what is required to make a business successful," Vranich said. "I believe they are unteachable.”

“I don’t think that’s right,” Kish Rajan said in response.

Rajan is the director of the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development, or GO Biz for short.

Rajan noted that Gov. Jery Brown called for streamlining business regulations in his recent State of the State address.

“Our approach needs to be based more on consistent standards that provide certainty, and cut needless delays. That gives the Republicans something to clap about,” Brown told lawmakers in January.

Said Rajan: “All things being equal, California is still the best state in the country. It’s one of the best places in the world to do business. Businesses tell me that every day. They love our highly skilled workforce.”

But businesses don’t like the high taxes. In fact, California ranks 48th out of 50 states in business tax climate, according to the Tax Foundation, a non-partisan tax research group.

“The word is out,” Vranich said. “You want to grab a company for your state, come to California.”

California is also a high-value target for other states trying to attract new jobs.

The GPEC campaign in Arizona expects to announce the first of new arrivals from California this summer.

But how often do California businesses actually relocate to other states?

A 2010 report from the Public Policy Institute of California shows only 1.7 percent of all job losses in California from 1992 to 2006 were due to businesses leaving the state.

That’s a small percentage, but during that same time frame, California experienced a net decline of 9,000 jobs.

In today’s tough economy, every job counts, especially with pressure ramping up with competition from Arizona, Texas, Nevada and other states -- all of them focused on taking jobs from California.

After the passage of Prop. 30 in November, Arizona leaders launched a campaign to get California businesses to come to the Grand Canyon State. When CEOs arrive at Phoenix's Sky Harbor Airport, they are met with an entourage of Arizona mayors and other leaders eager to proclaim, "Now Arriving, California."

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